Publisher and share action integration in a user interface for automated messaging

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are some implementations of systems, apparatus, methods and computer program products for publisher and share action integration in a user interface (UI) for automated messaging. In some implementations, information is displayed in a first component and in a second component in a UI on a display. The first component is a publisher configured for composing and sharing messages on different communication channels using different share actions. The second component includes links to data items. When one of the data items is selected, a set of share actions for sharing the selected item using the publisher can be identified and displayed. When one of the displayed share actions is selected, it can be determined that the selected share action is applicable to one of the communication channels. A reference to the selected item can be provided in a message being composed in the publisher for sharing on the one communication channel.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material,which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure as it appears in the United States Patent andTrademark Office patent file or records but otherwise reserves allcopyright rights whatsoever.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

An Application Data Sheet is filed concurrently with this specificationas part of the present application. Each application that the presentapplication claims benefit of or priority to as identified in theconcurrently filed Application Data Sheet is incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety and for all purposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This patent document generally relates to a publisher in a userinterface that provides electronic messaging using differentcommunication channels. More specifically, this patent documentdiscloses techniques for automated messaging in the publisher inrelation to share actions for sharing electronic data.

BACKGROUND

“Cloud computing” services provide shared network-based resources,applications, and information to computers and other devices uponrequest. In cloud computing environments, services can be provided byservers to users' computer systems via the Internet and wirelessnetworks rather than installing software locally on users' computersystems. A user can interact with social networking systems, emailsystems, and instant messaging systems, by way of example, in a cloudcomputing environment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The included drawings are for illustrative purposes and serve only toprovide examples of possible structures and operations for the disclosedsystems, apparatus, methods and computer program products providingpublisher and share action integration in a user interface for automatedmessaging. These drawings in no way limit any changes in form and detailthat may be made by one skilled in the art without departing from thespirit and scope of the disclosed implementations.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a user interface (UI) 100 providing publisherand share action integration for automated messaging, in accordance withsome implementations.

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of an example of a method 200 providingpublisher and share action integration for automated messaging, inaccordance with some implementations.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show examples of different states of UI 100, in accordancewith some implementations.

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of an example of a method 500 providingpublisher and share action integration for automated messaging, inaccordance with some implementations.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show examples of different states of UI 100, in accordancewith some implementations.

FIG. 8A shows a block diagram of an example of an environment 10 inwhich an on-demand database service can be used in accordance with someimplementations.

FIG. 8B shows a block diagram of an example of some implementations ofelements of FIG. 8A and various possible interconnections between theseelements.

FIG. 9A shows a system diagram of an example of architectural componentsof an on-demand database service environment 900, in accordance withsome implementations.

FIG. 9B shows a system diagram further illustrating an example ofarchitectural components of an on-demand database service environment,in accordance with some implementations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Examples of systems, apparatus, methods and computer program productsaccording to the disclosed implementations are described in thissection. These examples are being provided solely to add context and aidin the understanding of the disclosed implementations. It will thus beapparent to one skilled in the art that implementations may be practicedwithout some or all of these specific details. In other instances,certain operations have not been described in detail to avoidunnecessarily obscuring implementations. Other applications arepossible, such that the following examples should not be taken asdefinitive or limiting either in scope or setting.

In the following detailed description, references are made to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part of the description and in whichare shown, by way of illustration, specific implementations. Althoughthese implementations are described in sufficient detail to enable oneskilled in the art to practice the disclosed implementations, it isunderstood that these examples are not limiting, such that otherimplementations may be used and changes may be made without departingfrom their spirit and scope. For example, the operations of methodsshown and described herein are not necessarily performed in the orderindicated. It should also be understood that the methods may includemore or fewer operations than are indicated. In some implementations,operations described herein as separate operations may be combined.Conversely, what may be described herein as a single operation may beimplemented in multiple operations.

Some implementations of the disclosed systems, apparatus, methods andcomputer program products are configured to provide publisher and shareaction integration in a user interface (UI) for automated messaging. Forexample, a publisher in a UI can be a single graphical tool configuredto publish electronic messages on any of a variety of communicationchannels, which the publisher can access. In some implementations, thepublisher is one of several or many components in a UI and is operableas a central communications hub for a user viewing the UI to: 1)manually select any of the available channels such as email, publicsocial networks, private social networks, social network communities,instant messaging, etc., 2) compose a message, and 3) click a “share”,“publish” or similar button in the UI to cause the publisher to sharethe composed message on the selected channel.

In some of the disclosed implementations, techniques are provided forautomating channel selection and message generation in the publisher inrelation to user selection of share actions for sharing electronic data.For instance, while a publisher is rendered and operable in onegraphical component of a UI, an independently operable sidebar can berendered in a different graphical component of the same UI. This sidebarcan be configured to provide a list of data items, which can be sharedin various manners. In some implementations, when one of a number ofavailable actions for sharing a particular data item in the sidebar isselected, techniques are disclosed for the sidebar to automaticallyinteract with the publisher to cause the publisher to switch to anappropriate communication channel and/or compose a message with areference to the particular data item. In some instances, implementationof some of the disclosed techniques can significantly reduce user timeand energy wasted in conventional systems where a user manuallynavigates among numerous windows in a UI and performs numerous manualsteps to attempt to identify an appropriate share action for a data itemin the sidebar and identify an appropriate channel in the publisherbefore a message can be shared, oftentimes in a setting where time is ofthe essence to satisfy an objective.

In some implementations, in response to a user selecting one of a set ofpossible share actions for a particular data item listed in the sidebar,the sidebar queries the publisher to see which communication channel iscurrently active in the publisher. If the sidebar then determines thatthe selected share action is applicable to the currently active channel,the sidebar directs the publisher to perform the share action. On theother hand, if the selected share action is not applicable to thecurrently active channel, the sidebar instructs the publisher to switchchannels to a default or other designated channel where the selectedaction is applicable, before directing the publisher to perform theshare action.

By way of illustration, Roy is a customer call center agent responsiblefor handling customer concerns and complaints regarding widgets sold byABC, Inc. Roy uses an online platform providing a UI with differentindependently rendered and operable components: a first component with apublisher as generally described above, a second component with aknowledge article sidebar providing search functionality of knowledgearticles stored in an appropriate data repository, and a third componentproviding customer relationship management (CRM) database access andworkflow automation. When Roy uses the third component to pull up a CRMrecord, such as a particular case tracking a customer complaint, Roy canthen use the sidebar to search for and identify knowledge articleshaving keywords related to the complaint. When Roy sees that the sidebarhas been populated with a list of search results identifying somerelevant articles, which may contain instructions or insight for how tosolve the case, Roy can use some of the disclosed techniques to quicklyshare a particular article on the appropriate publisher channel. Forinstance, if the customer originally submitted the complaint by email,Roy can select a “share via email” action in a drop-down list ofpossible share actions displayed next to the article in the sidebar,automatically causing both: 1) the email channel to be activated in thepublisher if a different channel is currently active, and 2) a publicUniform Resource Locator (URL) to the article to be embedded as contentin the body of an email being composed at the publisher.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a UI 100 providing publisher and share actionintegration for automated messaging, in accordance with someimplementations. In FIG. 1 , UI 100 includes a variety of graphicalcomponents situated at different locations in UI 100. These componentsinclude a record feed 104 dedicated to a particular CRM record, case00001004, as indicated by tab 106. Record feed 104 includes various feeditems specific to the case. Tab 106 is one of possibly several or manytabs, which can be opened in UI 100, where each tab can be selected toaccess a respective page dedicated to a particular CRM record, feed, orother construct.

In FIG. 1 , another component of UI 100 is a publisher 108. In thisexample, publisher 108 is configured with a number of tabs 112 a-d, anyof which a user can click on to select a particular communicationchannel accessible by publisher 108. In this configuration, at any giventime, only one tab and associated communication channel is active inpublisher 108. For example, a user can click on post tab 112 a to postto record feed 104 or another feed of a social networking or othercommunications system when the user wishes to compose and share a poston that channel. When tab 112 a is active, tabs 112 b-d and associatedcommunication channels are inactive in publisher 108. By the same token,a user can click on email tab 112 b to de-activate post tab 112 a inpublisher 108 and activate email as the desired communication channel. Acommunity tab 112 c activates a specific public or private communitywithin a social networking system as the desired communication channel,while social tab 112 d activates a feed of a designated socialnetworking system, such as Facebook or Twitter. When a user clicks onany of tabs 112 a-d, publisher 108 opens a data entry field, such aspost field 116, of a post template. The user can then type content intofield 116 to compose a post or other social media message to be sharedon a channel associated with post tab 112 a.

Other various communication channels can be linked with tabs ofpublisher 108, such as a social network internal to an organization, asocial network community for specific subsets of users of anorganization such as a team of employees or customers associated with aparticular account, a particular social network group, etc. Thoseskilled in the art should appreciate that publisher 108 is configurableto access a variety of communication channels as desired for aparticular environment, such as a customer call center or aconsumer-oriented website.

In FIG. 1 , another component in UI 100 is a knowledge sidebar 120,which can be used to search for information to help resolve the caseidentified by tab 106. A search field 124 in sidebar 120 allows the userto enter keywords and search one or more databases or other resourcesstoring and/or identifying knowledge articles. When knowledge articlesor other data items are identified by running such a search, a list 128of identified knowledge articles is generated and displayed in sidebar120. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that list 128 of FIG. 1is one of many examples of presentations of data items displayable insidebar 120. In some other implementations, other data items in the formof documents, files, database records, webpages, etc. can be identifiedby sidebar 120 as relevant to a search query and presented in list 128or another suitable graphical presentation.

In some implementations, some or all of the operability and anyinteroperability of components in UI 100 are event-driven. In theexample of FIG. 1 , each component 104, 108 or 120 exists and operatesindependently of the other components present in UI 100. Each component104, 108 or 120 is configurable to listen for certain events and performsome designated operations and/or processing, such as execution of acallback function when a designated event is detected. A globalevent-based communication framework, for instance, using JavaScript, canbe provided by a browser or other program generating UI 100. In someimplementations, the event-driven mechanism of JavaScript can be afoundation and can be customized, for instance, to enable a particularknowledge article in list 128 to be attached to case 00001004 of FIG. 1. When a certain action is taken with respect to or within a component,global events can be fired and received by other components via theevent-based communication framework, also referred to herein as an eventframework. For example, after a knowledge article is attached to case00001004, a global event is fired indicating that the article attachmenthas been completed. Then any other components listening for events viathe event framework will be notified of the attachment, and suchcomponents can determine whether to perform some additional operation(s)and/or processing.

In the example of FIG. 1 , each component is also driven by acombination of server-side and client-side processing, where theclient-side processing often occurs within or in relation to a browserrunning on a user's device. There is two-way communication at the user'sdevice between pairs of components, such as between publisher 108 andsidebar 120. Thus, when an action is initiated in sidebar 120, by way ofillustration, sidebar 120 can fire a global event to query the globalspace of tab 106 via the event framework to see what other components inUI 100 are currently active. Publisher 108, configured with an eventlistener to listen for global events via the event framework, canimmediately receive and respond to the global event with an appropriatereply, such as “publisher active.” This reply is relayed to sidebar 120,which can perform appropriate additional processing and/or initiateadditional operations.

In some implementations, when there are no tabs or only a single tabopen in UI 100, the event framework acts as an intermediary between anycomponents in the UI. In some other implementations, the event frameworkis bound to only a particular tab or page of a UI, as in the example ofFIG. 1 . Thus, in FIG. 1 , global events are fired only within aspecific tab. In this example, an independently operating publisherand/or sidebar in a different tab, e.g., for a different CRM record thancase 00001004, would have a different event framework and would not benotified of global events or other communications by publisher 108 andsidebar 120.

Those skilled in the art should appreciate that the disclosed techniquesare not limited to an event framework as described above. In some otherimplementations, other communications mechanisms can provide a mediumfor independently operating components of a UI such as a publisher and asidebar to communicate with each other.

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of an example of a method 200 for publisher andshare action integration for automated messaging, in accordance withsome implementations. In FIG. 2 , publisher 108 of FIG. 1 is configuredwith an event listener 204 to listen for global events on an eventframework 208. At 204 of FIG. 2 , sidebar 120 displays a set of possibleactions for sharing a selected knowledge article. By way ofillustration, in FIG. 3 , a user has clicked on a pull-down link 304 ofa particular knowledge article 308 to select article 308 and cause adrop-down list 312 to be displayed in sidebar 120. In FIG. 3 , a set ofavailable share actions 316 providing different manners of sharingarticle 308 is set forth in list 312.

Returning to FIG. 2 , at 208, user input indicating a selection of oneof share actions 316 in list 312 of FIG. 3 is received. For example, inFIG. 3 , a user can move a mouse pointer 320 over share action 324 andclick on action 324. Returning to FIG. 2 , after a desired share actionhas been selected at 208, at 212, sidebar 120 is configured to identifya set of communication channels to which selected share action 324 isapplicable. For example, a list of available communication channels foreach possible share action for sharing knowledge articles or other typesof data items in sidebar 120 can be maintained in a database of acloud-based database system.

In FIG. 2 , at 216, which can occur after, before or concurrent with anyof 204, 208 and 212, sidebar 120 fires a global event in the form of aquery event 218 requesting identification of which channel is currentlyactive in publisher 108. Thus, in FIG. 3 , when the user selects shareaction 324 to share a URL identifying article 308, this selection causesquery event 218 to be fired as a global event, for example, within thecurrent page displayed by a browser program. Query event 218 iscommunicated on framework 208. Thus, event listener 204 of publisher 108allows publisher 108 to receive query event 218.

In FIG. 2 , at 220, when event listener 204 picks up query event 218,publisher 108 is configured to respond to the query by identifying achannel associated with post tab 112 a in the example of FIG. 3 as beingcurrently active. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that any ofthe various communication channels available through publisher 108 canbe currently active at the time query event 218 is received andprocessed by publisher 108 via event listener 204.

In FIG. 2 , when the channel associated with post tab 112 a isidentified as being currently active in publisher 108, at 222, publisher108 is configured to respond to query event 218 by generating a replyidentifying the currently active channel. This reply is communicatedback to sidebar 120 for additional processing, as shown in FIG. 2 .

In FIG. 2 , in response to the reply from publisher 108, at 224, sidebar120 checks whether selected share action 324 is applicable to thecurrently active channel. For example, as mentioned above, a list ofpublisher channels to which each possible share action is applicable canbe maintained at a database and checked at 224. In FIG. 2 , at 228, whensidebar 120 determines that selected share action 324 is applicable tothe currently active channel in publisher 108, sidebar 200 fires anotherglobal event in the form of message event 230 requesting that selectedshare action 324 be referenced in a message being composed or capable ofbeing composed in publisher 108. Thus, when publisher 108 receivesmessage event 230 via event listener 204, at 232, publisher 108 insertsa reference to article 308 in field 116 of FIG. 3 in accordance withshare action 324. In other words, since selected share action 324specifies that a URL to article 308 is to be shared, in this example,the URL is pasted as content into field 116 of a post being composedusing publisher 108.

Returning to 224 of FIG. 2 , when selected share action 324 is notapplicable to the currently active channel, at 234, sidebar 120identifies a different one of the available channels at publisher 108 asa default channel appropriate for selected share action 324. Thoseskilled in the art should appreciate that, at 234, a list of defaultchannels or otherwise designated channels for particular share actionscan be maintained in a database and referenced as needed by sidebar 120during the flow of FIG. 2 and of other methods disclosed herein. Thus,following the identification of an appropriate channel, at 236, sidebar120 fires another global event in the form of an activation event 238requesting that the default channel for action 324 be made currentlyactive in publisher 108. In the example of FIG. 3 , if sidebar 120 hasidentified the email channel as a default channel for share action 324,activation event 238 instructs publisher 108 to switch channels to theemail channel.

In FIG. 2 , at 240, in response to publisher 108 receiving activationevent 238, publisher 108 switches to the email channel, as shown in FIG.4 with email tab 112 b being emphasized. Returning to FIG. 2 , flowproceeds from 240 to 228 and 232 as described above. Thus, in FIG. 4 , aURL 404 to article 308 has been embedded inline in a body 408 of anemail being composed within publisher 108.

In the example of FIG. 4 , the email being composed within publisher 108is in the form of a reply to a customer inquiry submitted via email.After URL 404 is automatically pasted in body 408 of the email beingcomposed at publisher 108, a user can enter additional comments asdesired before clicking a send button 412 to cause the email to be sentback to the customer as a reply to the customer's original email.

In some implementations, a server can be configured to perform one ormore of the operations disclosed herein for publisher and share actionintegration in a user interface for automated messaging. In someimplementations, such as the example of FIG. 2 , a number of operationsare performed primarily at a user device by components communicatingwith each other within a browser running at the user device. However, insome other implementations, a server sends instructions to a user deviceto cause one or more of such operations to be performed. In some otherimplementations, one or more operations are performed partially orentirely by a server. Thus, in the example of FIG. 5 , it should beunderstood that one or more of operations described in 504-540 can beinitiated by a server or performed partially or entirely by a server, asthose skilled in the art should appreciate.

In FIG. 5 , at 504, a computing device such as a server can cause a userdevice to display any number of components including a publisher and asidebar in a user interface. For example, as described above withreference to FIGS. 1, 3 and 4 , publisher 108 and sidebar 120 can bepresented as components of UI 100. As described above with reference toFIG. 1 , sidebar 120 can be populated with list 128 of relevantknowledge articles.

Returning to FIG. 5 , at 508, first user input indicating a selection ofa particular knowledge article or other type of data item identified inlist 128 is received, for instance, by the selection of pull-down link304 adjacent to desired knowledge article 308, as shown in FIG. 3 .Returning to 508 of FIG. 5 , other examples of selecting a desired dataitem such as a knowledge article include a user hovering a mouse pointerover the desired item, the user touching the desired item on a touchscreen-enabled device or a user clicking on the desired data item with amouse. This first user input at 508 is generally submitted by the userat the user device but can be transmitted to a server or other computingdevice than the user device for additional processing.

Returning to FIG. 5 , at 512, the first user input received at 508 isprocessed by a server or user device to identify the selected data item.For example, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 6 , user input selecting pull-downlink 304 associated with knowledge article 308 can be processed at 512of FIG. 5 to identify article 308 as the selected data item. At 516 ofFIG. 5 , a set of possible share actions for sharing the selected dataitem using the publisher is identified.

At 520, after possible share actions are identified for a given dataitem such as a knowledge article, the set of possible share actions isdisplayed in a list. For example, a server can send an instruction tothe user device to display list 312 with share actions 316 identified at516, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 6 . In some implementations, a set of shareactions available for a given data item is loaded in a page by a browserbut hidden until a user selects a desired data item, for instance, byclicking on pull-down link 304, to cause the set to be revealed in list312 of FIG. 6 . Thus, a separate list of available share actions foreach knowledge article in list 128 of FIG. 1 can be populated when UI100 is loaded or when list 128 is generated. When a particular articleis selected, the associated list of available share actions for thatarticle is exposed, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 6 . In the example of FIGS.5 and 6 , lists of available share actions for each article weregenerated and provided to the user device from a server independent ofuser input and in response to a search query run through sidebar 120.

Returning to FIG. 5 , at 524, second user input is received indicating aselection of one of share actions 316 in list 312. For example, in FIGS.3 and 6 , a user has clicked on share action 324 as a desired mode ofsharing knowledge article 308. In FIG. 5 , at 528, the second user inputreceived at 524 is processed to identify the selected share action. Aswith the processing of the first user input at 512, the second userinput at 528 can be handed by a server after such user input is relayedfrom the user device to the server. At 532 of FIG. 5 , the server or theuser device identifies which communication channel provided by thepublisher is currently active. In the example of FIG. 6 , a particularsocial networking system is the currently active communication channel,as indicated by social tab 112 d in publisher 108.

In the example of FIG. 5 , at 536, a server or the user devicedetermines that the selected share action is applicable to the currentlyactive communication channel. Thus, similar to the flow of 224 to 228 ofFIG. 2 , since share action 324 of FIG. 6 is applicable to the socialnetworking system channel currently active in publisher 108 of FIG. 6 ,the selected knowledge article 308 can be immediately shared. Thus, at540 of FIG. 5 , a server or the user device causes a reference to theselected data item such as knowledge article 308 of FIG. 6 to beinserted in a message being composed at publisher 108. For example, inFIG. 7 , a URL 704 to knowledge article 308 has been inserted as a linkin content field 708 of a social media message being composed withinpublisher 108. A user can then post the social media message to aparticular social networking system associated with social tab 112 dupon clicking a create button 712 of FIG. 7 . Those skilled in the artshould appreciate that knowledge articles can be shared in variousalternative ways, such as attaching the article to a message orattaching metadata identifying the article to a message.

Some but not all of the techniques described or referenced herein areimplemented using or in conjunction with a social networking system.Social networking systems have become a popular way to facilitatecommunication among people, any of whom can be recognized as users of asocial networking system. One example of a social networking system isChatter®, provided by salesforce.com, inc. of San Francisco, Calif.salesforce.com, inc. is a provider of social networking services, CRMservices and other database management services, any of which can beaccessed and used in conjunction with the techniques disclosed herein insome implementations. In some but not all implementations, these variousservices can be provided in a cloud computing environment, for example,in the context of a multi-tenant database system. Thus, the disclosedtechniques can be implemented without having to install softwarelocally, that is, on computing devices of users interacting withservices available through the cloud. While the disclosedimplementations are often described with reference to Chatter®, thoseskilled in the art should understand that the disclosed techniques areneither limited to Chatter® nor to any other services and systemsprovided by salesforce.com, inc. and can be implemented in the contextof various other database systems and/or social networking systems suchas Facebook®, LinkedIn®, Twitter®, Google+®, Yammer® and Jive® by way ofexample only.

Some social networking systems can be implemented in various settings,including organizations. For instance, a social networking system can beimplemented to connect users within an enterprise such as a company orbusiness partnership, or a group of users within such an organization.For instance, Chatter® can be used by employee users in a division of abusiness organization to share data, communicate, and collaborate witheach other for various social purposes often involving the business ofthe organization. In the example of a multi-tenant database system, eachorganization or group within the organization can be a respective tenantof the system, as described in greater detail below.

In some social networking systems, users can access one or more socialnetwork feeds, which include information updates presented as items orentries in the feed. Such a feed item can include a single informationupdate or a collection of individual information updates. A feed itemcan include various types of data including character-based data, audiodata, image data and/or video data. A social network feed can bedisplayed in a graphical user interface (GUI) on a display device suchas the display of a computing device as described below. The informationupdates can include various social network data from various sources andcan be stored in a database system. In some but not all implementations,the disclosed methods, apparatus, systems, and computer program productsmay be configured or designed for use in a multi-tenant databaseenvironment.

In some implementations, a social networking system may allow a user tofollow data objects in the form of CRM records such as cases, accounts,or opportunities, in addition to following individual users and groupsof users. The “following” of a record stored in a database, as describedin greater detail below, allows a user to track the progress of thatrecord when the user is subscribed to the record. Updates to the record,also referred to herein as changes to the record, are one type ofinformation update that can occur and be noted on a social network feedsuch as a record feed or a news feed of a user subscribed to the record.Examples of record updates include field changes in the record, updatesto the status of a record, as well as the creation of the record itself.Some records are publicly accessible, such that any user can follow therecord, while other records are private, for which appropriate securityclearance/permissions are a prerequisite to a user following the record.

Information updates can include various types of updates, which may ormay not be linked with a particular record. For example, informationupdates can be social media messages submitted by a user or can beotherwise generated in response to user actions or in response toevents. Examples of social media messages include: posts, comments,indications of a user's personal preferences such as “likes” and“dislikes”, updates to a user's status, uploaded files, anduser-submitted hyperlinks to social network data or other network datasuch as various documents and/or web pages on the Internet. Posts caninclude alpha-numeric or other character-based user inputs such aswords, phrases, statements, questions, emotional expressions, and/orsymbols. Comments generally refer to responses to posts or to otherinformation updates, such as words, phrases, statements, answers,questions, and reactionary emotional expressions and/or symbols.Multimedia data can be included in, linked with, or attached to a postor comment. For example, a post can include textual statements incombination with a JPEG image or animated image. A like or dislike canbe submitted in response to a particular post or comment. Examples ofuploaded files include presentations, documents, multimedia files, andthe like.

Users can follow a record by subscribing to the record, as mentionedabove. Users can also follow other entities such as other types of dataobjects, other users, and groups of users. Feed tracked updatesregarding such entities are one type of information update that can bereceived and included in the user's news feed. Any number of users canfollow a particular entity and thus view information updates pertainingto that entity on the users' respective news feeds. In some socialnetworks, users may follow each other by establishing connections witheach other, sometimes referred to as “friending” one another. Byestablishing such a connection, one user may be able to see informationgenerated by, generated about, or otherwise associated with anotheruser. For instance, a first user may be able to see information postedby a second user to the second user's personal social network page. Oneimplementation of such a personal social network page is a user'sprofile page, for example, in the form of a web page representing theuser's profile. In one example, when the first user is following thesecond user, the first user's news feed can receive a post from thesecond user submitted to the second user's profile feed. A user'sprofile feed is also referred to herein as the user's “wall,” which isone example of a social network feed displayed on the user's profilepage.

In some implementations, a social network feed may be specific to agroup of users of a social networking system. For instance, a group ofusers may publish a feed. Members of the group may view and post to thisgroup feed in accordance with a permissions configuration for the feedand the group. Information updates in a group context can also includechanges to group status information.

In some implementations, when data such as posts or comments input fromone or more users are submitted to a social network feed for aparticular user, group, object, or other construct within a socialnetworking system, an email notification or other type of networkcommunication may be transmitted to all users following the user, group,or object in addition to the inclusion of the data as a feed item in oneor more feeds, such as a user's profile feed, a news feed, or a recordfeed. In some social networking systems, the occurrence of such anotification is limited to the first instance of a published input,which may form part of a larger conversation. For instance, anotification may be transmitted for an initial post, but not forcomments on the post. In some other implementations, a separatenotification is transmitted for each such information update.

The term “multi-tenant database system” generally refers to thosesystems in which various elements of hardware and/or software of adatabase system may be shared by one or more customers. For example, agiven application server may simultaneously process requests for a greatnumber of customers, and a given database table may store rows of datasuch as feed items for a potentially much greater number of customers.

An example of a “user profile” or “user's profile” is a database objector set of objects configured to store and maintain data about a givenuser of a social networking system and/or database system. The data caninclude general information, such as name, title, phone number, a photo,a biographical summary, and a status, e.g., text describing what theuser is currently doing. As mentioned below, the data can include socialmedia messages created by other users. Where there are multiple tenants,a user is typically associated with a particular tenant. For example, auser could be a salesperson of a company, which is a tenant of thedatabase system that provides a database service.

The term “record” generally refers to a data entity having fields withvalues and stored in database system. An example of a record is aninstance of a data object created by a user of the database service, forexample, in the form of a CRM record about a particular (actual orpotential) business relationship or project. The record can have a datastructure defined by the database service (a standard object) or definedby a user (custom object). For example, a record can be for a businesspartner or potential business partner (e.g., a client, vendor,distributor, etc.) of the user, and can include information describingan entire company, subsidiaries, or contacts at the company. As anotherexample, a record can be a project that the user is working on, such asan opportunity (e.g., a possible sale) with an existing partner, or aproject that the user is trying to get. In one implementation of amulti-tenant database system, each record for the tenants has a uniqueidentifier stored in a common table. A record has data fields that aredefined by the structure of the object (e.g., fields of certain datatypes and purposes). A record can also have custom fields defined by auser. A field can be another record or include links thereto, therebyproviding a parent-child relationship between the records.

The terms “social network feed” and “feed” are used interchangeablyherein and generally refer to a combination (e.g., a list) of feed itemsor entries with various types of information and data. Such feed itemscan be stored and maintained in one or more database tables, e.g., asrows in the table(s), that can be accessed to retrieve relevantinformation to be presented as part of a displayed feed. The term “feeditem” (or feed element) generally refers to an item of information,which can be presented in the feed such as a post submitted by a user.Feed items of information about a user can be presented in a user'sprofile feed of the database, while feed items of information about arecord can be presented in a record feed in the database, by way ofexample. A profile feed and a record feed are examples of differenttypes of social network feeds. A second user following a first user anda record can receive the feed items associated with the first user andthe record for display in the second user's news feed, which is anothertype of social network feed. In some implementations, the feed itemsfrom any number of followed users and records can be combined into asingle social network feed of a particular user.

As examples, a feed item can be a social media message, such as auser-generated post of text data, and a feed tracked update to a recordor profile, such as a change to a field of the record. Feed trackedupdates are described in greater detail below. A feed can be acombination of social media messages and feed tracked updates. Socialmedia messages include text created by a user, and may include otherdata as well. Examples of social media messages include posts, userstatus updates, and comments. Social media messages can be created for auser's profile or for a record. Posts can be created by various users,potentially any user, although some restrictions can be applied. As anexample, posts can be made to a wall section of a user's profile page(which can include a number of recent posts) or a section of a recordthat includes multiple posts. The posts can be organized inchronological order when displayed in a GUI, for instance, on the user'sprofile page, as part of the user's profile feed. In contrast to a post,a user status update changes a status of a user and can be made by thatuser or an administrator. A record can also have a status, the update ofwhich can be provided by an owner of the record or other users havingsuitable write access permissions to the record. The owner can be asingle user, multiple users, or a group.

In some implementations, a comment can be made on any feed item. In someimplementations, comments are organized as a list explicitly tied to aparticular feed tracked update, post, or status update. In someimplementations, comments may not be listed in the first layer (in ahierarchal sense) of feed items, but listed as a second layer branchingfrom a particular first layer feed item.

A “feed tracked update,” also referred to herein as a “feed update,” isone type of information update and generally refers to data representingan event. A feed tracked update can include text generated by thedatabase system in response to the event, to be provided as one or morefeed items for possible inclusion in one or more feeds. In oneimplementation, the data can initially be stored, and then the databasesystem can later use the data to create text for describing the event.Both the data and/or the text can be a feed tracked update, as usedherein. In various implementations, an event can be an update of arecord and/or can be triggered by a specific action by a user. Whichactions trigger an event can be configurable. Which events have feedtracked updates created and which feed updates are sent to which userscan also be configurable. Social media messages and other types of feedupdates can be stored as a field or child object of the record. Forexample, the feed can be stored as a child object of the record.

A “group” is generally a collection of users. In some implementations,the group may be defined as users with a same or similar attribute, orby membership. In some implementations, a “group feed”, also referred toherein as a “group news feed”, includes one or more feed items about anyuser in the group. In some implementations, the group feed also includesinformation updates and other feed items that are about the group as awhole, the group's purpose, the group's description, and group recordsand other objects stored in association with the group. Threads ofinformation updates including group record updates and social mediamessages, such as posts, comments, likes, etc., can define groupconversations and change over time.

An “entity feed” or “record feed” generally refers to a feed of feeditems about a particular record in the database. Such feed items caninclude feed tracked updates about changes to the record and posts madeby users about the record. An entity feed can be composed of any type offeed item. Such a feed can be displayed on a page such as a web pageassociated with the record, e.g., a home page of the record. As usedherein, a “profile feed” or “user's profile feed” generally refers to afeed of feed items about a particular user. In one example, the feeditems for a profile feed include posts and comments that other usersmake about or send to the particular user, and status updates made bythe particular user. Such a profile feed can be displayed on a pageassociated with the particular user. In another example, feed items in aprofile feed could include posts made by the particular user and feedtracked updates initiated based on actions of the particular user.

Some non-limiting examples of systems, apparatus, and methods aredescribed below for implementing database systems and enterprise levelsocial networking systems in conjunction with the disclosed techniques.Such implementations can provide more efficient use of a databasesystem. For instance, a user of a database system may not easily knowwhen important information in the database has changed, e.g., about aproject or client. Such implementations can provide feed tracked updatesabout such changes and other events, thereby keeping users informed.

FIG. 8A shows a block diagram of an example of an environment 10 inwhich an on-demand database service exists and can be used in accordancewith some implementations. Environment 10 may include user systems 12,network 14, database system 16, processor system 17, applicationplatform 18, network interface 20, tenant data storage 22, system datastorage 24, program code 26, and process space 28. In otherimplementations, environment 10 may not have all of these componentsand/or may have other components instead of, or in addition to, thoselisted above.

A user system 12 may be implemented as any computing device(s) or otherdata processing apparatus such as a machine or system used by a user toaccess a database system 16. For example, any of user systems 12 can bea handheld and/or portable computing device such as a mobile phone, asmartphone, a laptop computer, or a tablet. Other examples of a usersystem include computing devices such as a work station and/or a networkof computing devices. As illustrated in FIG. 8A (and in more detail inFIG. 8B) user systems 12 might interact via a network 14 with anon-demand database service, which is implemented in the example of FIG.8A as database system 16.

An on-demand database service, implemented using system 16 by way ofexample, is a service that is made available to users who do not need tonecessarily be concerned with building and/or maintaining the databasesystem. Instead, the database system may be available for their use whenthe users need the database system, i.e., on the demand of the users.Some on-demand database services may store information from one or moretenants into tables of a common database image to form a multi-tenantdatabase system (MTS). A database image may include one or more databaseobjects. A relational database management system (RDBMS) or theequivalent may execute storage and retrieval of information against thedatabase object(s). Application platform 18 may be a framework thatallows the applications of system 16 to run, such as the hardware and/orsoftware, e.g., the operating system. In some implementations,application platform 18 enables creation, managing and executing one ormore applications developed by the provider of the on-demand databaseservice, users accessing the on-demand database service via user systems12, or third party application developers accessing the on-demanddatabase service via user systems 12.

The users of user systems 12 may differ in their respective capacities,and the capacity of a particular user system 12 might be entirelydetermined by permissions (permission levels) for the current user. Forexample, when a salesperson is using a particular user system 12 tointeract with system 16, the user system has the capacities allotted tothat salesperson. However, while an administrator is using that usersystem to interact with system 16, that user system has the capacitiesallotted to that administrator. In systems with a hierarchical rolemodel, users at one permission level may have access to applications,data, and database information accessible by a lower permission leveluser, but may not have access to certain applications, databaseinformation, and data accessible by a user at a higher permission level.Thus, different users will have different capabilities with regard toaccessing and modifying application and database information, dependingon a user's security or permission level, also called authorization.

Network 14 is any network or combination of networks of devices thatcommunicate with one another. For example, network 14 can be any one orany combination of a LAN (local area network), WAN (wide area network),telephone network, wireless network, point-to-point network, starnetwork, token ring network, hub network, or other appropriateconfiguration. Network 14 can include a TCP/IP (Transfer ControlProtocol and Internet Protocol) network, such as the global internetworkof networks often referred to as the Internet. The Internet will be usedin many of the examples herein. However, it should be understood thatthe networks that the present implementations might use are not solimited.

User systems 12 might communicate with system 16 using TCP/IP and, at ahigher network level, use other common Internet protocols tocommunicate, such as HTTP, FTP, AFS, WAP, etc. In an example where HTTPis used, user system 12 might include an HTTP client commonly referredto as a “browser” for sending and receiving HTTP signals to and from anHTTP server at system 16. Such an HTTP server might be implemented asthe sole network interface 20 between system 16 and network 14, butother techniques might be used as well or instead. In someimplementations, the network interface 20 between system 16 and network14 includes load sharing functionality, such as round-robin HTTP requestdistributors to balance loads and distribute incoming HTTP requestsevenly over a plurality of servers. At least for users accessing system16, each of the plurality of servers has access to the MTS' data;however, other alternative configurations may be used instead.

In one implementation, system 16, shown in FIG. 8A, implements aweb-based CRM system. For example, in one implementation, system 16includes application servers configured to implement and execute CRMsoftware applications as well as provide related data, code, forms, webpages and other information to and from user systems 12 and to store to,and retrieve from, a database system related data, objects, and Webpagecontent. With a multi-tenant system, data for multiple tenants may bestored in the same physical database object in tenant data storage 22,however, tenant data typically is arranged in the storage medium(s) oftenant data storage 22 so that data of one tenant is kept logicallyseparate from that of other tenants so that one tenant does not haveaccess to another tenant's data, unless such data is expressly shared.In certain implementations, system 16 implements applications otherthan, or in addition to, a CRM application. For example, system 16 mayprovide tenant access to multiple hosted (standard and custom)applications, including a CRM application. User (or third partydeveloper) applications, which may or may not include CRM, may besupported by the application platform 18, which manages creation,storage of the applications into one or more database objects andexecuting of the applications in a virtual machine in the process spaceof the system 16.

One arrangement for elements of system 16 is shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B,including a network interface 20, application platform 18, tenant datastorage 22 for tenant data 23, system data storage 24 for system data 25accessible to system 16 and possibly multiple tenants, program code 26for implementing various functions of system 16, and a process space 28for executing MTS system processes and tenant-specific processes, suchas running applications as part of an application hosting service.Additional processes that may execute on system 16 include databaseindexing processes.

Several elements in the system shown in FIG. 8A include conventional,well-known elements that are explained only briefly here. For example,each user system 12 could include a desktop personal computer,workstation, laptop, PDA, cell phone, or any wireless access protocol(WAP) enabled device or any other computing device capable ofinterfacing directly or indirectly to the Internet or other networkconnection. The term “computing device” is also referred to hereinsimply as a “computer”. User system 12 typically runs an HTTP client,e.g., a browsing program, such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser,Netscape's Navigator browser, Opera's browser, or a WAP-enabled browserin the case of a cell phone, PDA or other wireless device, or the like,allowing a user (e.g., subscriber of the multi-tenant database system)of user system 12 to access, process and view information, pages andapplications available to it from system 16 over network 14. Each usersystem 12 also typically includes one or more user input devices, suchas a keyboard, a mouse, trackball, touch pad, touch screen, pen or thelike, for interacting with a GUI provided by the browser on a display(e.g., a monitor screen, LCD display, OLED display, etc.) of thecomputing device in conjunction with pages, forms, applications andother information provided by system 16 or other systems or servers.Thus, “display device” as used herein can refer to a display of acomputer system such as a monitor or touch-screen display, and can referto any computing device having display capabilities such as a desktopcomputer, laptop, tablet, smartphone, a television set-top box, orwearable device such Google Glass® or other human body-mounted displayapparatus. For example, the display device can be used to access dataand applications hosted by system 16, and to perform searches on storeddata, and otherwise allow a user to interact with various GUI pages thatmay be presented to a user. As discussed above, implementations aresuitable for use with the Internet, although other networks can be usedinstead of or in addition to the Internet, such as an intranet, anextranet, a virtual private network (VPN), a non-TCP/IP based network,any LAN or WAN or the like.

According to one implementation, each user system 12 and all of itscomponents are operator configurable using applications, such as abrowser, including computer code run using a central processing unitsuch as an Intel Pentium® processor or the like. Similarly, system 16(and additional instances of an MTS, where more than one is present) andall of its components might be operator configurable usingapplication(s) including computer code to run using processor system 17,which may be implemented to include a central processing unit, which mayinclude an Intel Pentium® processor or the like, and/or multipleprocessor units. Non-transitory computer-readable media can haveinstructions stored thereon/in, that can be executed by or used toprogram a computing device to perform any of the methods of theimplementations described herein. Computer program code 26 implementinginstructions for operating and configuring system 16 to intercommunicateand to process web pages, applications and other data and media contentas described herein is preferably downloadable and stored on a harddisk, but the entire program code, or portions thereof, may also bestored in any other volatile or non-volatile memory medium or device asis well known, such as a ROM or RAM, or provided on any media capable ofstoring program code, such as any type of rotating media includingfloppy disks, optical discs, digital versatile disk (DVD), compact disk(CD), microdrive, and magneto-optical disks, and magnetic or opticalcards, nanosystems (including molecular memory ICs), or any other typeof computer-readable medium or device suitable for storing instructionsand/or data. Additionally, the entire program code, or portions thereof,may be transmitted and downloaded from a software source over atransmission medium, e.g., over the Internet, or from another server, asis well known, or transmitted over any other conventional networkconnection as is well known (e.g., extranet, VPN, LAN, etc.) using anycommunication medium and protocols (e.g., TCP/IP, HTTP, HTTPS, Ethernet,etc.) as are well known. It will also be appreciated that computer codefor the disclosed implementations can be realized in any programminglanguage that can be executed on a client system and/or server or serversystem such as, for example, C, C++, HTML, any other markup language,Java™, JavaScript, ActiveX, any other scripting language, such asVBScript, and many other programming languages as are well known may beused. (Java™ is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.).

According to some implementations, each system 16 is configured toprovide web pages, forms, applications, data and media content to user(client) systems 12 to support the access by user systems 12 as tenantsof system 16. As such, system 16 provides security mechanisms to keepeach tenant's data separate unless the data is shared. If more than oneMTS is used, they may be located in close proximity to one another(e.g., in a server farm located in a single building or campus), or theymay be distributed at locations remote from one another (e.g., one ormore servers located in city A and one or more servers located in cityB). As used herein, each MTS could include one or more logically and/orphysically connected servers distributed locally or across one or moregeographic locations. Additionally, the term “server” is meant to referto one type of computing device such as a system including processinghardware and process space(s), an associated storage medium such as amemory device or database, and, in some instances, a databaseapplication (e.g., OODBMS or RDBMS) as is well known in the art. Itshould also be understood that “server system” and “server” are oftenused interchangeably herein. Similarly, the database objects describedherein can be implemented as single databases, a distributed database, acollection of distributed databases, a database with redundant online oroffline backups or other redundancies, etc., and might include adistributed database or storage network and associated processingintelligence.

FIG. 8B shows a block diagram of an example of some implementations ofelements of FIG. 8A and various possible interconnections between theseelements. That is, FIG. 8B also illustrates environment 10. However, inFIG. 8B elements of system 16 and various interconnections in someimplementations are further illustrated. FIG. 8B shows that user system12 may include processor system 12A, memory system 12B, input system12C, and output system 12D. FIG. 8B shows network 14 and system 16. FIG.8B also shows that system 16 may include tenant data storage 22, tenantdata 23, system data storage 24, system data 25, User Interface (UI) 30,Application Program Interface (API) 32, PL/SOQL 34, save routines 36,application setup mechanism 38, application servers 50 ₁-50 _(N), systemprocess space 52, tenant process spaces 54, tenant management processspace 60, tenant storage space 62, user storage 64, and applicationmetadata 66. In other implementations, environment 10 may not have thesame elements as those listed above and/or may have other elementsinstead of, or in addition to, those listed above.

User system 12, network 14, system 16, tenant data storage 22, andsystem data storage 24 were discussed above in FIG. 8A. Regarding usersystem 12, processor system 12A may be any combination of one or moreprocessors. Memory system 12B may be any combination of one or morememory devices, short term, and/or long term memory. Input system 12Cmay be any combination of input devices, such as one or more keyboards,mice, trackballs, scanners, cameras, and/or interfaces to networks.Output system 12D may be any combination of output devices, such as oneor more monitors, printers, and/or interfaces to networks. As shown byFIG. 8B, system 16 may include a network interface 20 (of FIG. 8A)implemented as a set of application servers 50, an application platform18, tenant data storage 22, and system data storage 24. Also shown issystem process space 52, including individual tenant process spaces 54and a tenant management process space 60. Each application server 50 maybe configured to communicate with tenant data storage 22 and the tenantdata 23 therein, and system data storage 24 and the system data 25therein to serve requests of user systems 12. The tenant data 23 mightbe divided into individual tenant storage spaces 62, which can be eithera physical arrangement and/or a logical arrangement of data. Within eachtenant storage space 62, user storage 64 and application metadata 66might be similarly allocated for each user. For example, a copy of auser's most recently used (MRU) items might be stored to user storage64. Similarly, a copy of MRU items for an entire organization that is atenant might be stored to tenant storage space 62. A UI 30 provides auser interface and an API 32 provides an application programmerinterface to system 16 resident processes to users and/or developers atuser systems 12. The tenant data and the system data may be stored invarious databases, such as one or more Oracle® databases.

Application platform 18 includes an application setup mechanism 38 thatsupports application developers' creation and management ofapplications, which may be saved as metadata into tenant data storage 22by save routines 36 for execution by subscribers as one or more tenantprocess spaces 54 managed by tenant management process 60 for example.Invocations to such applications may be coded using PL/SOQL 34 thatprovides a programming language style interface extension to API 32. Adetailed description of some PL/SOQL language implementations isdiscussed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,730,478, titled METHODAND SYSTEM FOR ALLOWING ACCESS TO DEVELOPED APPLICATIONS VIA AMULTI-TENANT ON-DEMAND DATABASE SERVICE, by Craig Weissman, issued onJun. 1, 2010, and hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety andfor all purposes. Invocations to applications may be detected by one ormore system processes, which manage retrieving application metadata 66for the subscriber making the invocation and executing the metadata asan application in a virtual machine.

Each application server 50 may be communicably coupled to databasesystems, e.g., having access to system data 25 and tenant data 23, via adifferent network connection. For example, one application server 50 ₁might be coupled via the network 14 (e.g., the Internet), anotherapplication server 50 _(N-1) might be coupled via a direct network link,and another application server 50 _(N) might be coupled by yet adifferent network connection. Transfer Control Protocol and InternetProtocol (TCP/IP) are typical protocols for communicating betweenapplication servers 50 and the database system. However, it will beapparent to one skilled in the art that other transport protocols may beused to optimize the system depending on the network interconnect used.

In certain implementations, each application server 50 is configured tohandle requests for any user associated with any organization that is atenant. Because it is desirable to be able to add and remove applicationservers from the server pool at any time for any reason, there ispreferably no server affinity for a user and/or organization to aspecific application server 50. In one implementation, therefore, aninterface system implementing a load balancing function (e.g., an F5Big-IP load balancer) is communicably coupled between the applicationservers 50 and the user systems 12 to distribute requests to theapplication servers 50. In one implementation, the load balancer uses aleast connections algorithm to route user requests to the applicationservers 50. Other examples of load balancing algorithms, such as roundrobin and observed response time, also can be used. For example, incertain implementations, three consecutive requests from the same usercould hit three different application servers 50, and three requestsfrom different users could hit the same application server 50. In thismanner, by way of example, system 16 is multi-tenant, wherein system 16handles storage of, and access to, different objects, data andapplications across disparate users and organizations.

As an example of storage, one tenant might be a company that employs asales force where each salesperson uses system 16 to manage their salesprocess. Thus, a user might maintain contact data, leads data, customerfollow-up data, performance data, goals and progress data, etc., allapplicable to that user's personal sales process (e.g., in tenant datastorage 22). In an example of a MTS arrangement, since all of the dataand the applications to access, view, modify, report, transmit,calculate, etc., can be maintained and accessed by a user system havingnothing more than network access, the user can manage his or her salesefforts and cycles from any of many different user systems. For example,if a salesperson is visiting a customer and the customer has Internetaccess in their lobby, the salesperson can obtain critical updates as tothat customer while waiting for the customer to arrive in the lobby.

While each user's data might be separate from other users' dataregardless of the employers of each user, some data might beorganization-wide data shared or accessible by a plurality of users orall of the users for a given organization that is a tenant. Thus, theremight be some data structures managed by system 16 that are allocated atthe tenant level while other data structures might be managed at theuser level. Because an MTS might support multiple tenants includingpossible competitors, the MTS should have security protocols that keepdata, applications, and application use separate. Also, because manytenants may opt for access to an MTS rather than maintain their ownsystem, redundancy, up-time, and backup are additional functions thatmay be implemented in the MTS. In addition to user-specific data andtenant-specific data, system 16 might also maintain system level datausable by multiple tenants or other data. Such system level data mightinclude industry reports, news, postings, and the like that are sharableamong tenants.

In certain implementations, user systems 12 (which may be clientsystems) communicate with application servers 50 to request and updatesystem-level and tenant-level data from system 16 that may involvesending one or more queries to tenant data storage 22 and/or system datastorage 24. System 16 (e.g., an application server 50 in system 16)automatically generates one or more SQL statements (e.g., one or moreSQL queries) that are designed to access the desired information. Systemdata storage 24 may generate query plans to access the requested datafrom the database.

Each database can generally be viewed as a collection of objects, suchas a set of logical tables, containing data fitted into predefinedcategories. A “table” is one representation of a data object, and may beused herein to simplify the conceptual description of objects and customobjects according to some implementations. It should be understood that“table” and “object” may be used interchangeably herein. Each tablegenerally contains one or more data categories logically arranged ascolumns or fields in a viewable schema. Each row or record of a tablecontains an instance of data for each category defined by the fields.For example, a CRM database may include a table that describes acustomer with fields for basic contact information such as name,address, phone number, fax number, etc. Another table might describe apurchase order, including fields for information such as customer,product, sale price, date, etc. In some multi-tenant database systems,standard entity tables might be provided for use by all tenants. For CRMdatabase applications, such standard entities might include tables forcase, account, contact, lead, and opportunity data objects, eachcontaining pre-defined fields. It should be understood that the word“entity” may also be used interchangeably herein with “object” and“table”.

In some multi-tenant database systems, tenants may be allowed to createand store custom objects, or they may be allowed to customize standardentities or objects, for example by creating custom fields for standardobjects, including custom index fields. Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No.7,779,039, titled CUSTOM ENTITIES AND FIELDS IN A MULTI-TENANT DATABASESYSTEM, by Weissman et al., issued on Aug. 17, 2010, and herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety and for all purposes, teachessystems and methods for creating custom objects as well as customizingstandard objects in a multi-tenant database system. In certainimplementations, for example, all custom entity data rows are stored ina single multi-tenant physical table, which may contain multiple logicaltables per organization. It is transparent to customers that theirmultiple “tables” are in fact stored in one large table or that theirdata may be stored in the same table as the data of other customers.

FIG. 9A shows a system diagram of an example of architectural componentsof an on-demand database service environment 900, in accordance withsome implementations. A client machine located in the cloud 904,generally referring to one or more networks in combination, as describedherein, may communicate with the on-demand database service environmentvia one or more edge routers 908 and 912. A client machine can be any ofthe examples of user systems 12 described above. The edge routers maycommunicate with one or more core switches 920 and 924 via firewall 916.The core switches may communicate with a load balancer 928, which maydistribute server load over different pods, such as the pods 940 and944. The pods 940 and 944, which may each include one or more serversand/or other computing resources, may perform data processing and otheroperations used to provide on-demand services. Communication with thepods may be conducted via pod switches 932 and 936. Components of theon-demand database service environment may communicate with a databasestorage 956 via a database firewall 948 and a database switch 952.

As shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, accessing an on-demand database serviceenvironment may involve communications transmitted among a variety ofdifferent hardware and/or software components. Further, the on-demanddatabase service environment 900 is a simplified representation of anactual on-demand database service environment. For example, while onlyone or two devices of each type are shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, someimplementations of an on-demand database service environment may includeanywhere from one to many devices of each type. Also, the on-demanddatabase service environment need not include each device shown in FIGS.9A and 9B, or may include additional devices not shown in FIGS. 9A and9B.

Moreover, one or more of the devices in the on-demand database serviceenvironment 900 may be implemented on the same physical device or ondifferent hardware. Some devices may be implemented using hardware or acombination of hardware and software. Thus, terms such as “dataprocessing apparatus,” “machine,” “server” and “device” as used hereinare not limited to a single hardware device, but rather include anyhardware and software configured to provide the described functionality.

The cloud 904 is intended to refer to a data network or combination ofdata networks, often including the Internet. Client machines located inthe cloud 904 may communicate with the on-demand database serviceenvironment to access services provided by the on-demand databaseservice environment. For example, client machines may access theon-demand database service environment to retrieve, store, edit, and/orprocess information.

In some implementations, the edge routers 908 and 912 route packetsbetween the cloud 904 and other components of the on-demand databaseservice environment 900. The edge routers 908 and 912 may employ theBorder Gateway Protocol (BGP). The BGP is the core routing protocol ofthe Internet. The edge routers 908 and 912 may maintain a table of IPnetworks or ‘prefixes’, which designate network reachability amongautonomous systems on the Internet.

In one or more implementations, the firewall 916 may protect the innercomponents of the on-demand database service environment 900 fromInternet traffic. The firewall 916 may block, permit, or deny access tothe inner components of the on-demand database service environment 900based upon a set of rules and other criteria. The firewall 916 may actas one or more of a packet filter, an application gateway, a statefulfilter, a proxy server, or any other type of firewall.

In some implementations, the core switches 920 and 924 are high-capacityswitches that transfer packets within the on-demand database serviceenvironment 900. The core switches 920 and 924 may be configured asnetwork bridges that quickly route data between different componentswithin the on-demand database service environment. In someimplementations, the use of two or more core switches 920 and 924 mayprovide redundancy and/or reduced latency.

In some implementations, the pods 940 and 944 may perform the core dataprocessing and service functions provided by the on-demand databaseservice environment. Each pod may include various types of hardwareand/or software computing resources. An example of the pod architectureis discussed in greater detail with reference to FIG. 9B.

In some implementations, communication between the pods 940 and 944 maybe conducted via the pod switches 932 and 936. The pod switches 932 and936 may facilitate communication between the pods 940 and 944 and clientmachines located in the cloud 904, for example via core switches 920 and924. Also, the pod switches 932 and 936 may facilitate communicationbetween the pods 940 and 944 and the database storage 956.

In some implementations, the load balancer 928 may distribute workloadbetween the pods 940 and 944. Balancing the on-demand service requestsbetween the pods may assist in improving the use of resources,increasing throughput, reducing response times, and/or reducingoverhead. The load balancer 928 may include multilayer switches toanalyze and forward traffic.

In some implementations, access to the database storage 956 may beguarded by a database firewall 948. The database firewall 948 may act asa computer application firewall operating at the database applicationlayer of a protocol stack. The database firewall 948 may protect thedatabase storage 956 from application attacks such as structure querylanguage (SQL) injection, database rootkits, and unauthorizedinformation disclosure.

In some implementations, the database firewall 948 may include a hostusing one or more forms of reverse proxy services to proxy trafficbefore passing it to a gateway router. The database firewall 948 mayinspect the contents of database traffic and block certain content ordatabase requests. The database firewall 948 may work on the SQLapplication level atop the TCP/IP stack, managing applications'connection to the database or SQL management interfaces as well asintercepting and enforcing packets traveling to or from a databasenetwork or application interface.

In some implementations, communication with the database storage 956 maybe conducted via the database switch 952. The multi-tenant databasestorage 956 may include more than one hardware and/or softwarecomponents for handling database queries. Accordingly, the databaseswitch 952 may direct database queries transmitted by other componentsof the on-demand database service environment (e.g., the pods 940 and944) to the correct components within the database storage 956.

In some implementations, the database storage 956 is an on-demanddatabase system shared by many different organizations. The on-demanddatabase service may employ a multi-tenant approach, a virtualizedapproach, or any other type of database approach. On-demand databaseservices are discussed in greater detail with reference to FIGS. 9A and9B.

FIG. 9B shows a system diagram further illustrating an example ofarchitectural components of an on-demand database service environment,in accordance with some implementations. The pod 944 may be used torender services to a user of the on-demand database service environment900. In some implementations, each pod may include a variety of serversand/or other systems. The pod 944 includes one or more content batchservers 964, content search servers 968, query servers 982, file servers986, access control system (ACS) servers 980, batch servers 984, and appservers 988. Also, the pod 944 includes database instances 990, quickfile systems (QFS) 992, and indexers 994. In one or moreimplementations, some or all communication between the servers in thepod 944 may be transmitted via the switch 936.

The content batch servers 964 may handle requests internal to the pod.These requests may be long-running and/or not tied to a particularcustomer. For example, the content batch servers 964 may handle requestsrelated to log mining, cleanup work, and maintenance tasks.

The content search servers 968 may provide query and indexer functions.For example, the functions provided by the content search servers 968may allow users to search through content stored in the on-demanddatabase service environment.

The file servers 986 may manage requests for information stored in thefile storage 998. The file storage 998 may store information such asdocuments, images, and basic large objects (BLOBs). By managing requestsfor information using the file servers 986, the image footprint on thedatabase may be reduced.

The query servers 982 may be used to retrieve information from one ormore file systems. For example, the query system 982 may receiverequests for information from the app servers 988 and then transmitinformation queries to the NFS 996 located outside the pod.

The pod 944 may share a database instance 990 configured as amulti-tenant environment in which different organizations share accessto the same database. Additionally, services rendered by the pod 944 maycall upon various hardware and/or software resources. In someimplementations, the ACS servers 980 may control access to data,hardware resources, or software resources.

In some implementations, the batch servers 984 may process batch jobs,which are used to run tasks at specified times. Thus, the batch servers984 may transmit instructions to other servers, such as the app servers988, to trigger the batch jobs.

In some implementations, the QFS 992 may be an open source file systemavailable from Sun Microsystems® of Santa Clara, Calif. The QFS mayserve as a rapid-access file system for storing and accessinginformation available within the pod 944. The QFS 992 may support somevolume management capabilities, allowing many disks to be groupedtogether into a file system. File system metadata can be kept on aseparate set of disks, which may be useful for streaming applicationswhere long disk seeks cannot be tolerated. Thus, the QFS system maycommunicate with one or more content search servers 968 and/or indexers994 to identify, retrieve, move, and/or update data stored in thenetwork file systems 996 and/or other storage systems.

In some implementations, one or more query servers 982 may communicatewith the NFS 996 to retrieve and/or update information stored outside ofthe pod 944. The NFS 996 may allow servers located in the pod 944 toaccess information to access files over a network in a manner similar tohow local storage is accessed.

In some implementations, queries from the query servers 922 may betransmitted to the NFS 996 via the load balancer 928, which maydistribute resource requests over various resources available in theon-demand database service environment. The NFS 996 may also communicatewith the QFS 992 to update the information stored on the NFS 996 and/orto provide information to the QFS 992 for use by servers located withinthe pod 944.

In some implementations, the pod may include one or more databaseinstances 990. The database instance 990 may transmit information to theQFS 992. When information is transmitted to the QFS, it may be availablefor use by servers within the pod 944 without using an additionaldatabase call.

In some implementations, database information may be transmitted to theindexer 994. Indexer 994 may provide an index of information availablein the database 990 and/or QFS 992. The index information may beprovided to file servers 986 and/or the QFS 992.

In some implementations, one or more application servers or otherservers described above with reference to FIGS. 8A and 8B include ahardware and/or software framework configurable to execute proceduresusing programs, routines, scripts, etc. Thus, in some implementations,one or more of application servers 50 ₁-50 _(N) of FIG. 8B can beconfigured to initiate performance of one or more of the operationsdescribed above with reference to FIGS. 1-7 by instructing anothercomputing device to perform an operation. In some implementations, oneor more application servers 50 ₁-50 _(N) carry out, either partially orentirely, one or more of the disclosed operations described withreference to FIGS. 1-7 . In some implementations, app servers 988 ofFIG. 9B support the construction of applications provided by theon-demand database service environment 900 via the pod 944. Thus, an appserver 988 may include a hardware and/or software framework configurableto execute procedures to partially or entirely carry out or instructanother computing device to carry out one or more operations disclosedherein, including operations described above with reference to FIGS. 1-7. In alternative implementations, two or more app servers 988 maycooperate to perform or cause performance of such operations. Any of thedatabases and other storage facilities described above with reference toFIGS. 8A, 8B, 9A and 9B can be configured to store lists, articles,documents, records, files, and other objects for implementing theoperations described above with reference to FIGS. 1-7 . For instance,lists of available communication channels associated with share actionsfor sharing a type of data item can be maintained in tenant data storage22 and/or system data storage 24 of FIGS. 8A and 8B. By the same token,lists of default or designated channels for particular share actions canbe maintained in storage 22 and/or storage 24. In some otherimplementations, rather than storing one or more lists, articles,documents, records, and/or files, the databases and other storagefacilities described above can store pointers to the lists, articles,documents, records, and/or files, which may instead be stored in otherrepositories external to the systems and environments described abovewith reference to FIGS. 8A, 8B, 9A and 9B.

While some of the disclosed implementations may be described withreference to a system having an application server providing a front endfor an on-demand database service capable of supporting multipletenants, the disclosed implementations are not limited to multi-tenantdatabases nor deployment on application servers. Some implementationsmay be practiced using various database architectures such as ORACLE®,DB2® by IBM and the like without departing from the scope of theimplementations claimed.

It should be understood that some of the disclosed implementations canbe embodied in the form of control logic using hardware and/or computersoftware in a modular or integrated manner. Other ways and/or methodsare possible using hardware and a combination of hardware and software.

Any of the disclosed implementations may be embodied in various types ofhardware, software, firmware, and combinations thereof. For example,some techniques disclosed herein may be implemented, at least in part,by computer-readable media that include program instructions, stateinformation, etc., for performing various services and operationsdescribed herein. Examples of program instructions include both machinecode, such as produced by a compiler, and files containing higher-levelcode that may be executed by a computing device such as a server orother data processing apparatus using an interpreter. Examples ofcomputer-readable media include, but are not limited to: magnetic mediasuch as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media suchas flash memory, compact disk (CD) or digital versatile disk (DVD);magneto-optical media; and hardware devices specially configured tostore program instructions, such as read-only memory (ROM) devices andrandom access memory (RAM) devices. A computer-readable medium may beany combination of such storage devices.

Any of the operations and techniques described in this application maybe implemented as software code to be executed by a processor using anysuitable computer language such as, for example, Java, C++ or Perlusing, for example, object-oriented techniques. The software code may bestored as a series of instructions or commands on a computer-readablemedium. Computer-readable media encoded with the software/program codemay be packaged with a compatible device or provided separately fromother devices (e.g., via Internet download). Any such computer-readablemedium may reside on or within a single computing device or an entirecomputer system, and may be among other computer-readable media within asystem or network. A computer system or computing device may include amonitor, printer, or other suitable display for providing any of theresults mentioned herein to a user.

While various implementations have been described herein, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of example only, and notlimitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present applicationshould not be limited by any of the implementations described herein,but should be defined only in accordance with the following andlater-submitted claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for enabling organizations to connectand engage with customers via channels, the system comprising: adatabase system implemented using a server system, the database systemconfigurable to cause: providing a plurality of channels for customerservice, the channels for customer service comprising a text messagechannel, one or more social channel, and an email channel; displaying acustomer service workspace in a user interface at a user device, thecustomer service workspace identifying a case stored in a database;identifying a plurality of knowledge articles that match the case;displaying the knowledge articles in a knowledge pane in the customerservice workspace, the knowledge pane configured to display a pluralityof actions associated with the case and capable of being performedresponsive to user input, the actions comprising: selecting a knowledgearticle to cause the knowledge article to open, filtering knowledgearticles based on one or more options, copying a URL identifying aknowledge article, emailing a URL identifying a knowledge article, andemailing content of an identified knowledge article; storing, in thedatabase system, a link between a knowledge article and the case;associating, responsive to a selection of one of the actions, theselected action with one or more of the channels for customer service;performing the selected action using the associated one or morechannels; and firing, after performing the selected action, a globalevent indicating that the selected action has been completed.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, the actions further comprising one or more of: usinga search box to enter keywords and search for articles, or displayingresults.
 3. The system of claim 1, the channels for customer servicefurther comprising one or more of: a chat or a video service.
 4. Thesystem of claim 1, the one or more social channels comprising one ormore of: Facebook or Twitter.
 5. The system of claim 1, the emailchannel comprising one or more of: a navigate-to email channel or acontextual email channel.
 6. The system of claim 1, the customer serviceworkspace comprising a publisher configured for composing and sharingmessages using the channels for customer service, the associating of theselected action with the one or more channels for customer servicecomprising: including a reference to an identified knowledge article ina message in the publisher.
 7. The system of claim 6, the publishercomprising a plurality of user-selectable tabs, each tab controllingactivation of a respective one of the channels for customer service. 8.A computer program product comprising computer-readable program codecapable of being executed by one or more processors when retrieved froma non-transitory computer-readable medium, the program code comprisinginstructions configurable to cause: providing a plurality of channelsfor customer service, the channels for customer service comprising atext message channel, one or more social channel, and an email channel;displaying a customer service workspace in a user interface at a userdevice, the customer service workspace identifying a case stored in adatabase; identifying a plurality of knowledge articles that match thecase; displaying the knowledge articles in a knowledge pane in thecustomer service workspace, the knowledge pane configured to display aplurality of actions associated with the case and capable of beingperformed responsive to user input, the actions comprising: selecting aknowledge article to cause the knowledge article to open, filteringknowledge articles based on one or more options, copying a URLidentifying a knowledge article, emailing a URL identifying a knowledgearticle, and emailing content of an identified knowledge article;storing, in a database system, a link between a knowledge article andthe case; associating, responsive to a selection of one of the actions,the selected action with one or more of the channels for customerservice; performing the selected action using the associated one or morechannels; and firing, after performing the selected action, a globalevent indicating that the selected action has been completed.
 9. Thecomputer program product of claim 8, the actions further comprising oneor more of: using a search box to enter keywords and search forarticles, or displaying results.
 10. The computer program product ofclaim 8, the channels for customer service further comprising one ormore of: a chat or a video service.
 11. The computer program product ofclaim 8, the one or more social channels comprising one or more of:Facebook or Twitter.
 12. The computer program product of claim 8, theemail channel comprising one or more of: a navigate-to email channel ora contextual email channel.
 13. The computer program product of claim 8,the customer service workspace comprising a publisher configured forcomposing and sharing messages using the channels for customer service,the associating of the selected action with the one or more channels forcustomer service comprising: including a reference to an identifiedknowledge article in a message in the publisher.
 14. The computerprogram product of claim 13, the publisher comprising a plurality ofuser-selectable tabs, each tab controlling activation of a respectiveone of the channels for customer service.
 15. A computer-implementedmethod comprising: providing a plurality of channels for customerservice, the channels for customer service comprising a text messagechannel, one or more social channel, and an email channel; displaying acustomer service workspace in a user interface at a user device, thecustomer service workspace identifying a case stored in a database;identifying a plurality of knowledge articles that match the case;displaying the knowledge articles in a knowledge pane in the customerservice workspace, the knowledge pane configured to display a pluralityof actions associated with the case and capable of being performedresponsive to user input, the actions comprising: selecting a knowledgearticle to cause the knowledge article to open, filtering knowledgearticles based on one or more options, copying a URL identifying aknowledge article, emailing a URL identifying a knowledge article, andemailing content of an identified knowledge article; storing, in adatabase system, a link between a knowledge article and the case;associating, responsive to a selection of one of the actions, theselected action with one or more of the channels for customer service;performing the selected action using the associated one or morechannels; and firing, after performing the selected action, a globalevent indicating that the selected action has been completed.
 16. Thecomputer-implemented of claim 15, the actions further comprising one ormore of: using a search box to enter keywords and search for articles,or displaying results.
 17. The computer-implemented of claim 15, thechannels for customer service further comprising one or more of: a chator a video service.
 18. The computer-implemented of claim 15, the one ormore social channels comprising one or more of: Facebook or Twitter. 19.The computer-implemented of claim 15, the email channel comprising oneor more of: a navigate-to email channel or a contextual email channel.20. The computer-implemented of claim 15, the customer service workspacecomprising a publisher configured for composing and sharing messagesusing the channels for customer service, the associating of the selectedaction with the one or more channels for customer service comprising:including a reference to an identified knowledge article in a message inthe publisher.